Question of the Day

Did illegal voters swing any congressional races?

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana National Guard soldiers and airmen will begin carrying personal handguns at armories and recruiting stations Monday to defend themselves following the fatal shootings of four Marines and a sailor in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Gov. Mike Pence and Indiana Adjutant General Corey Carr made the announcement Sunday, a day after Pence signed an executive order directing Maj. Gen. Carr to increase security at all Indiana National Guard facilities, including storefront recruiting offices.

“As commander in chief of the Indiana National Guard, I will not permit our citizen-soldiers to remain unable to defend themselves and our citizens at facilities in our state,” Pence said at a news conference Sunday at Stout Field, the Guard’s headquarters. “Hoosiers may be assured that those who have stepped forward to defend our state and nation will have the ability to defend themselves.”

The new policy applies to the state’s 62 armories, the bases of the two Guard air wings, 12 recruiting stations and the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Jennings County, Pence said. Indiana is home to the fourth largest National Guard contingent in the nation.

“Across this state, there will be members of the National Guard who are armed. That will contribute to their safety, the peace of mind of (their) families, and it will contribute to the safety and security of our communities,” said Pence, the father of a Marine.

“What we saw Thursday morning in Tennessee … were military personnel who did not have the ability to defend themselves,” he said.

The soldiers and airmen will carry properly permitted personal weapons and will receive safety training if needed, Carr said.

“Safety is paramount,” Carr said.

Even before Thursday’s shootings at a recruiting center and a Marine-Navy reserve facility in Chattanooga, the Indiana National Guard was taking steps to prepare for the possibility of an attack on one of its facilities. It held an active-shooter training exercise in March at Stout Field on Indianapolis’ south side.

In March, Illinois Army National Guard member Hasan Edmonds, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, were arrested and subsequently indicted on charges of conspiring to help the Islamic State. Jonas Edmonds is accused of planning to attack an Illinois military facility.

Pence is among several governors who have ordered Guardsmen to be armed. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has moved his state’s Guard recruiters from storefronts in urban areas to armories.